WrestleMania coming to new 49ers stadium in 2015

A very enthusiastic fan attends WrestleMania 29 on April 7, 2013, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo)

Santa Clara’s new Levi’s Stadium has locked in another premier sporting event. This one doesn’t involve tackles so much as body slams.

Officials with World Wrestling Entertainment are expected to announce Tuesday that the future home of the San Francisco 49ers will host WrestleMania 31 — in March of 2015.

WrestleMania, which has brought such stars to the ring as Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant and the Rock, is the marquee event of professional wrestling. With its immense popularity and certain economic stimulus, it’s one that cities have begun to engage in bidding wars over, much like the Super Bowl.

(Levi’s Stadium has already landed Super Bowl L, in 2016.)

WWE officials say they’ll release more details on why the Bay Area was selected for the premier wrestling gala at a press conference Tuesday morning.

But many affiliated with the WWE, including wrestlers Sheamus and Booker T, attended Sunday’s 49ers game at Candlestick Park to mark their territory.

Santa Clara beat out Philadelphia for the 2015 event.

A WWE spokesman told The Chronicle that the organization expects 70,000-plus people to attend Levi’s Stadium, and that WrestleMania 31 will be accompanied by a week of smaller events in other parts of the Bay Area.

This year’s WrestleMania, held at MetLife Stadium in northern New Jersey, generated $101.2 million in economic impact for the region, according to Enigma Research Corp., making it the most lucrative entertainment event in the history of the New York Giants/New York Jets complex.